International Journal for Quality research

UDK- 378.014.3(497.11)
Short Scientific Paper (1.03)

Contribution to the Improvement of Products

Aleksandar Marić1)
Slavko Arsovski 2)
Jasna Mastilović3)
1) Fakultet za industrijski
menadžment, Kruševac,
Serbia
2) Faculty of Mechanical
Engineering, University of
Kragujevac, Serbia
Quality in Baking Industry
Abstract: Food industry occupies special place in the
processing industry, especially when we talk on the
manufacturing of bakery products. Variable products
quality on the market initiated the authors of this study to
make an attempt, using comparative analysis of methods
for quality control that are at most applied in bakery plants
and other „convenient“ methods to indicate the
shortcomings and to argue convenience of using of
methods that would improve testing of the quality. That
approach could create a base for designing of model of
quality improvement the baking industry.
Keywords: product quality, baking, sensory evaluation

3) Tehnološki fakultet, Novi

Sad, Serbia

1. INTRODUCTION customers of this industry, which are really not

A Baking industry is characterized with a
variety of different products that daily find their
place on the market. Their quality estimate all
possible generations of consumers. Stable
quality of production, from the long-term point
of view, is not easy to preserve. Position on the
market are hardly gained, but very easily lost.
In the case of so sensitive production such as
the baking industry, in order of keeping of the
existing positions, it is unavoidable to make all
possible efforts for keeping of the achieved
levels of competences. Competence is
commonly expressed over three basic factors:
the quality, the time and the price [1].these
factors commonly represent basic – main
criteria that determine consumer’s preferences
for definite products. Nevertheless, consumers,
which are accustomed with the conventional
flavors, with already formed their own quality
criteria, and being unable even to recognize
distinctive sorts of bread, or to give judgments
about its quality, represent the interested
easy to satisfy. No educated with respect to
quality, consumers very often do not know
what they really seek [2]. But, the indicative
fact, which is generally accepted, is that on the
market one can meet distinctive oscillations of
the product quality.
Goal of this work is to indicate the
possible methods of estimation of products
quality, whose choice could assure the
demanded quality of baking industry products
for the long periods of time.
2. PRODUCTS OF THE BAKING
INDUSTRY
In the technological sense of word, bakery
products are defined in the Legal rule- book on
the quality of wheat, milling and baking
products, pasta products and fast frozen doughs
[7].
Bakery products, in the context of this
rule-book, are bread, pastry and other kinds of
bakery products.

Vol.3, No. 3, 2009 1

 Bread is the product obtained by mixing,
fermentation, forming and baking of dough
obtained from basic raw materials such as:
flours obtained from cereals, grists, water or
other allowed liquids, baker’s yeast and other
fermentation aims and table salt. With respect
of the improvements of physical and sensory
properties and shelf life of bread, the use of
additives is allowed.
Pastries, in the context of the rule-book,
are products similar to bread, but their weight
per piece is not higher than 250 grams.
Other kinds of bakery products, in the
context of the rulebook, are products obtained
from basic and additional raw materials, as well
as additives. These products have distinctive
form and are processed by using of procedures
differing from procedures used in production of
bread and pastry.
Products that were objects of our
investigations were bread and pastry. They
were chosen, without tendencies of diminishing
of the significance of other kinds of bakery
products.
3. ANALYSIS OF BAKING
INDUSTRY OF RASINA REGION
FROM PRODUCT QUALITY,
CADRE POTENTIALS,
CUSTOMER ATTITUDES ON
PRODUCT QUALITY POINTS OF
VIEW
The most efficient way of generating of
general attitudes about market products quality
can be obtained through testing of quality in the
whole chain of manufacturing, sales and
consumption (market).
Each interested side has its own attitude
about the quality and its own evaluation. By
synergies of attitudes and evaluations of all
mentioned participants it is possible in the
fastest manner to recognize points of
discrepancies, discover failures and recommend
at the very first moment the corrective
measures, and thereafter improvement and
promotion measures. Such all-inclusive,
integral approach to the problem can enable
creation of new values owing to the quality
promotion
A. Marić, S. Arsovski, J. Mastilović
Fig. 1. Superposing of attitudes on the
quality : 1 – common attitudes (interests
for quality) of manufacturer and
consumer; 2 – common attitudes of
manufacturer and distributor (salesman);
3 – common attitudes of salesman and
consumer; 4 – common attitudes of
manufacturer, salesman and consumer
Superposing of attitudes about quality is
shown in the Venn diagram (Figure 1). Goal of
such presentation is to stress out interrelations
between the interested participants (production,
marketing and consumers) oriented to common
general aims – the quality, which each
participant has to create.
However, results of investigations in
frames of our study are related to the
investigations oriented to manufacturers and
market (consumers).
36 bakery plants in region of Rasina were
included, as well as the sample of the market
(consumers) that can be considered to be
representative. The show results in the case of
manufacturing refer to: magnitude of the
business system, qualification structure of the
employed (Table 1, Figure 2), and innovation
of knowledge of the employed (Table 2, Figure
3).
Results related to the market (consumer)
refer to attitudes and motivations for
purchasing as well as on behavior of consumers
with respect to fulfilling of their needs and
demands.
Analyzing the structure of organizations in
the region of Rasina with respect of the human
resources (magnitude of the business system),
we can find out that:
• 44.44 per cent of organization
employs bellow 10 employed,
• 25 per cents of organizations has 10 –
15 employed,
• 8.33 per cents of organizations has 16
– 25 and 26 – 40 employed,
2
 • 13.90 per cents of organization
employ more than 40 workers.
Hence, organizations represent
predominantly small manufacturing – business
systems.
Number of employed in the immediate
production counts 38.36 per cents with respect
to the total number of the employed.
Number of qualified bakers and technologists
with respect to total number of employed
amounts to 10.48 per cents, and with respect to
the number employed in production amounts to
27.18 per cents (Figure 2).

Fig. 2. Human resources structure in bakery plants in the region of Rasina

Table 1. Qualification structure of production workers in bakery organizations in the region of

Rasina
Business system/ qualification structure of cadres Frequency Per cent
Number of business systems that do not employ qualified workers
12 33,33%
(technologists and/or qualified bakers) in the production
Number of business systems employing only qualified bakers 21 58,33%
Number of business systems employing qualified bakers and
3 8,33%
technologists

Fig. 3. Structure of cadres in bakery plants from the point of view of being qualified for performing of
tasks of bakery organizations in the region of Rasina

Vol.3, No. 3, 2009 3

 Table 2. Structure of presence of innovation of knowledge of cadres in bakery plants in the region
of Rasina
Level of acceptance of new knowledge and
Frequency Per cents
activities in improvement of cadres
Almost according all criteria and permanently 15 41.67%
Partially, only on some criteria 6 16.66%
No, or occasionally 15 41.67%

Fig. 4. Shares of education of cadres according to the Table 2 and the given criteria of bakery
organizations in the region of Rasina

Criteria for innovation of knowledge that from aspects of participants questionarried.

were mentioned are: participation on scientific The importance of bread for nourishment,
– professional convention fairs of baking and consumers described with the following
equipment, following and acceptance of new attributes:
knowledge from practice and references • Main food10.26%,
(professional journals, text books, internet), • Important 45.06%,
scholarships. • Very important 25,64%,
Investigations were performed in the • Less important 13.92%, and
Rasina region, with goals to find out the actual • Negligible
state of the baking industry. Communities of 4.40%.
Krusevac, Aleksandrovac, Brus, Trstenik, It is clear that 81.68% of the polled population
Varvarin and Cicevac were included. consider bred as being very important in the
Number of the polled in the communities nourishment, and only 18.32% of population do
was chosen in such a way, as to approximately not consider it as food of special importance.
correspond to the magnitude of the community Ranking of factors that have effects on
and to number of inhabitants in the Region of decision about purchasing of the product,
Rasina. consumers priorities were as follows.
Women are carriers of purchasing in the 1. Product quality,
family, and their attitudes can be projected to 2. Product freshness,
the choice of the family as the whole, having in 3. Regular supplying,
mind that their choice during purchasing has to 4. Price
unite attitudes of all family members, so that 5. Assortment,
they all have to be satisfied. Totally 273 6. Kindness of salesmen,
families were polled, with totally 1145 of 7. Personal liability,
participants. Results presented in this work are 8. Packaging,
only one part of the designed project with 9. Good marketing, and
considerably broader frames, either from 10. Recommendation of a friend.
aspects of the predetermined scientific aims, or

A. Marić, S. Arsovski, J. Mastilović 4

 International Journal for Quality research
UDK- 378.014.3(497.11)
Short Scientific Paper (1.03)
Fig. 5. Consumer attitudes about quality of baker’s products (bread and pastry) on the market
Key factors for the quality (attributes
influencing the quality) of bakery products,
according to the attitudes of consumers, are:
1. Raw materials quality,
2. Technology,
3. Sanitation, and
4. Baker’s knowledge and experiences.
Quality parameters of bakery products,
according opinions of consumers, ranked
according their significance, are:
1. Flavor (odor and taste)
2. Appearance of crust,
3. Volume,
4. Keeping manner,
5. Choice of packaging and packaging
procedure,
6. Symmetry of form.
The mentioned attitudes (Figure 5),
evaluation procedures and importance of
bakery products for the nourishment of
consumers make represent guidelines of action,
not only for manufacturers, but for all
interested participants in the baking industry.
Using these arguments, the authors of this
article wanted to point out the significance of
products with respect to consumers, and to
contribute to the choice of the optimal methods
of estimation of the products quality.
The most often applied method of quality
control in bakery organizations in region of
Rasina is the evaluation by scoring.
4. EVALUATION OF PRODUCTS
QUALITY BY SCORING
Scoring system is used when it is
Vol.3, No. 3, 2009
necessary to achieve complete sensory
evaluation of some product. Particular product
properties are scored with numerical values,
and at that time, each property, i.e. the quality
element, possesses the distinctive coefficient of
importance. Score multiplied with the
corresponding coefficient of importance gives
total number of scores for the given element of
quality. For such system of evaluation exist
schemes with different numbers of scores, and
as optimal number a scheme with scores
between 20 and 50 can be adopted [4].
For applying of this method, the most
significant is the properly estimation of
coefficients of importance values for distinctive
quality elements, in frames of the design, so
that they correspond to their significance with
respect to total quality of the product being
evaluated. The role of coefficient of importance
in sensory evaluation scheme is the avoidance
of interfering of scores.
Flour-based products are specific because,
besides to odor and taste, their quality largely
depends on appearance and crumb texture. To
be able to evaluate some product properly,
panelist has to be familiar with basic
characteristics of the product, and technology
of its production.
During making the choice of the method
of sensory evaluation, it should be kept in mind
that „the best method“ never exists. The choice
of the method primarily depends on results and
purposes of evaluation.
Bread is evaluated with total count of
scores obtained with using of such procedur
5
 International Journal for Quality research
UDK- 378.014.3(497.11)
Short Scientific Paper (1.03)

Scores Description Marks

> 40 Unacceptable for marketing 1–2
41 – 60 Satisfactory 3–4
61 – 80 Good 5–6
81 – 90 Very good 7-8
91 - 100 Excellent 9 - 10

DATA ON THE EVALUATION OF BREAD (an example)

Name of the enterprise DP „Branko Perisic“, Krusevac
Date und time of evaluation Apr. 13th, 2005
Sort of the product Bread, T-850
First name and name of evaluator Bogicevic Mihajlo

Sample label T-850

Declared mass 700g.
Measured mass 685 g. 712 g. 713 g. 714 g. 710 g.
Sample number 1 2 3 4 5
A
Quality Coefficient of Ax Ax Ax Ax
B B B B B x
elements importance B B B B
B
Appearance 3 3 9 4 12 5 15 5 15 5 15
Volume 4 5 20 5 20 5 20 5 20 5 20
Crumb 5 4 20 4 20 4 20 4 20 3 15
appearance
Crust and 3 4 12 4 12 4 12 5 15 4 12
crumb odor
Crust and 5 4 20 4 20 4 20 4 20 4 20
crumb taste
Total sum of
20 81 84 87 90 92
scores
Notes: A = Coefficient of importance; B = Assigned marks for the quality element; a x B = Number of
scores
The following histogram shows application of control of the finished products quality in the baking
enterprises in the region of Rasina (Figure 6).

Fig. 6. Quality control in the baking industry in the region of Rasina

As it can be seed, some 5.5 per cents of significant share. Their quality controls a
organization perform almost not the control of limited on the free judgment of workers in the
their finished products quality, what represents production. It is internal control form, with

Vol.3, No. 3, 2009 6

estimation of the quality, without any defined
parameters that could be measured (for
instance, in internal laboratory of the plant).
These organizations do not apply any external
control, even not in the Institution for
protection of human health. The remaining 96
per cent of organizations perform integrity
controls of their production in the Institution for
human health protection, but only 9.1 per cents
of organizations has their own laboratory for
the quality control.
Therefore, our investigations show that the
problem of quality control in bakery plants in
the region of Rasina is to be recognized as one
of the most serious problems.
5. CHOICE AND ANALYSIS OF
CONVENIENT METHODS FOR
EVALUATION OF THE
QUALITY
For obtaining of the all-inclusive and
detailed data concerning sensory characteristics
of bread for its evaluation purposes, whole set
of different possibilities exists. The choice of
the most appropriate method, which could lifer
optimal results prom their significance point of
view, depends of the facts that determine for
which purposes are such results needed.
When considering consumer attitudes, first
of all hedonic methods are applied. They
require a sample of consumers which is
statistically large enough for elaboration of
questionnaire results. Such panels have to
contain 50 polled subjects, or more. Because of
that, tests have to be designed so that they give
clear formulation of tasks, so that the
questionarried would not have any dilemmas.
Tests have to be performed in short period of
time, under circumstances that require not
special environment condition [5]. For
investigations are normally applied tests with
paired samples or triangle tests, where
consumers are asked to make their preference
with respect to question „which of the two
products is better?, or „which of three products
is different with respect to the other two?.
On the other hand, for the purposes of
development of bakery products, it is
unavoidable to apply methods of sensory
Vol.3, No. 3, 2009
estimations with more details describe sensory
properties, and for evaluations, tested, trained,
experienced panelists have to be used [6]. In
such cases, different aspects of sensory
evaluations are considered, using visual,
olfactory, gustatory and palpatory techniques
that enable detailed judgment of particular
quality aspects.
Visual technique of evaluation of sensory
properties lifers data on the products
appearance, inclusive their correctness and
acceptability, as well as product color, its hue,
brightness and homogeneity. Visual technique
lifers also numerous data related with cut of the
bread, beginning with the crust thickness, over
connection of crust and crumb, till to the bread
crumb, including one more its hue and color
homogeneity. The special significance for the
development of the products, from the point of
view of visual evaluations, have judgments
referring to the crumb structure, including its
homogeneity, equality, size and fineness of
porosity of the crumb.
Palpatory technique lifers for bread the
data that reflect its crumb properties, such as
moisture, crumbliness and elasticity, and for
crust, palpatory technique lifers data on its
brittleness and softness.
Evaluation of bread with olfactory
technique means the obtaining of data on
flavor, note and intensity of odor of products.
Gustatory technique lifers the data on the
strength and note of taste, on chewiness and
fatness of the product.
4. CONDUSION
Having in mind that the introduction of
such sophisticated evaluation of bread imposes
complex training of evaluators, its application
in our conditions is still limited to
investigations, although such an approach to
bread evaluations and its interrelating with
attitudes of consumers should and can bi back-
bone of improvements and development of
bakery products of the top quality, compatible
with consumer expectations, representing the
basic element for realization of competitive
advantages in baking industry.
7
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A. Marić, S. Arsovski, J. Mastilović 8